


If Gold Rusts

by koios



Series: Many, Many, Many Worlds [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Book 3: Fire (Avatar), Gen, Implied Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Let Toph Say Fuck 2k20, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Rated T for Toph, Someone Get These Kids Therapy, Swearing, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, its coming, no beta we die like lu ten
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27474661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koios/pseuds/koios
Summary: Team Avatar apparently can't catch a break from being hunted by Fire Nation royalty. After Zuko joins them post Day of Black Sun, Azula starts her own personal mission to find the Avatar, though for slightly different reasons.Ft. Toph looking and Zuko and going “yeah this is my big brother now”
Relationships: Azula & The Gaang (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko, pre Sokka/Zuko
Series: Many, Many, Many Worlds [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2007436
Comments: 19
Kudos: 297
Collections: A:tla





	If Gold Rusts

**Author's Note:**

> This will almost definitely become a full fic, maybe even pretty soon, but I doubt it'll have consistent uploads anytime soon. I hope you like it!

Life at the Western Air Temple had settled into something akin to peace, or as close as Sokka reasoned they could get, with the whole war thing and added Fire Nation royalty. Or ex-royalty? Zuko had a wanted poster now, so that was probably at least an informal disowning. But then again, the Fire Nation was weird, so maybe it was just an extreme form of ‘you’re grounded’ with a side of murder. Because, oh yeah, it also said _’wanted dead or alive’_. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing Sokka should bring up in casual conversation, so he left that to Toph - situationally inappropriate bluntness was her specialty. And also he had no idea how to talk to Zuko.

Katara did not seem to be having that problem, but her ‘talking to Zuko’ was rather aggressive and usually ended with more yelling than actual talking. To be fair, the guy had chased them around the world on his crazy honour quest, but even Sokka was starting to feel bad for him. Katara was scary. Not that he would ever admit that. But being on the receiving end of her ire was not a comfortable position - he would know, the last time she got really angry at him she cracked an entire iceberg and _summoned the spirits-damned avatar._  
Said avatar seemed to be in the same boat (good one, Sokka, still got great puns) as him, having no clue how to react to the (ex?) Fire Nation Prince. It was slightly reassuring that the almighty master of all elements and peace and stuff was just as lost as he was.

Toph, however, had taken about an hour to seamlessly integrate Zuko into her life. He was now her portable heat pack, primary mode of transport and the only person who didn’t seem to find it weird. Sokka never thought he would one day see Fire Nation royalty carrying around a blind earthbender like an ostrich horse, but here they were. And this was normal now. In fact, Zuko had taken everything in stride and hadn’t even gone on a furious rant about honour _once_ , which seemed alarmingly out of character. But then again, Sokka hadn’t seen him that angry since the ponytail days.

Wait, was it the ponytail? Was the ponytail making Zuko evil? _Holy shit was this-_

Wait, no, he hadn’t had the ponytail when he attacked them at Ba Sing Se. Ponytail theory discredited. Still, Sokka filed that train of thought aside for another day. The important thing was that Zuko was apparently good now and looking at his head no longer made Sokka want to laugh in his face.  
Spirits, the ponytail had been hard to look at with a straight face - only made easier when Zuko was flinging fire at them.  
Maybe that was why he was so aggressive.

And no, Sokka was getting off track again. He would ask Zuko what the deal was with his hair another time, probably when he was more confident it wouldn’t get him burned alive. And a weird part of him really did want to get to know Zuko better. It was partially curiosity, wondering why Zuko would suddenly decide to give up everything he wanted for what was essentially babysitting overpowered children and teaching them how to beat up his dad. But Sokka was also starting to like the guy - which was even weirder but didn’t feel that weird at all. Zuko was actually nice, and funny even though he wasn’t trying to be, and almost painfully awkward. Like even more awkward than Sokka and the ‘do you want to do an activity’ incident.

And now they were sitting around a fire while Katara cooked and Zuko dutifully passed her the ingredients, and it didn’t feel that weird at all. Well, maybe a little, but that was mostly because Aang was trying to make casual conversation with the firebender, and neither side were doing well.

“So... What do you think of the Air Temple?”

“Uh, it’s nice...”

“Cool, cool. Yeah, it’s a great temple. Have you seen the giant Pai Sho table?”

“Oh, yeah, I came across it a while ago,” the pause suddenly became even more awkward, “Uh, a few years ago. When I was... Looking for the avatar.”

Katara’s frown deepened and Toph snickered from her spot between them, bending her space rock into various shapes.

Then a though hit Sokka like a komodo rhino.

“A few years ago?”

“Yeah, it was about two and a half years ago. I visited all the Air Temples first,” Zuko said, eyes still fixed on the fire and clearly avoiding looking at anyone.

“But Aang only showed up a few months ago.”

“Well I didn’t exactly know when the avatar would return when I started searching,” Zuko shrugged, “It was pretty much a ‘right place, right time’ thing at the South Pole.”

“But that doesn’t make sense-“ Katara cut in, looking up sharply from the cooking pot, “why would you spend years searching for someone who hasn’t been seen in a century? Surely even you can’t be that stupid.”

“It wasn’t exactly my decision,” Zuko almost - almost - snapped, before looking away and back at the fire before Katara could shoot back another insult.

But now she looked as confused as Sokka felt.

“What do you mean?”

Zuko tensed, shifting uncomfortably.

“It’s a long story.”

“We have a long time, this stew will take a few hours at least,” Katara shot back, still cold, but more curious.

“I was banished three years ago, that’s when I started hunting the avatar,” Zuko said after a moment, as if that didn’t open even more questions.

Katara finished stirring the stew and gave him a levelled look.

“You were banished three years ago?”

Zuko nodded, pointedly not looking at anyone.

“Then why were you trying to bring Aang back to the Fire Lord? He banished you! That’s basically saying he wants nothing to do with you!” Her voice rose with each word, until she was almost yelling.

Sokka would have lamented the short lived peace if he wasn’t considering yelling at her himself, because _spirits_ , that was cold. Toph did not show the same hesitation, slamming a rock up into Katara’s leg.

“What the fuck, Sugar Queen?”

Katara huffed, and went back to stirring the stew with a vengeance.

“I’m just saying,” she snapped, “that it’s stupid to try doing things for someone who kicked you out.”

Zuko, who had gone very still and very quiet as soon as Katara had said ‘Fire Lord’ suddenly spoke.

“Capturing the avatar was the condition of my banishment. The deal was that I could come home if I brought him the avatar.”

“But Aang only showed up a few months ago,” Sokka repeated, finally finding his voice, “No one could have known when - or if - he would-“

Oh. _Oh_ , that suddenly made sense and he wished it didn’t. Surely even the Fire Lord-

“He didn’t want you back,” Katara said, almost flatly, no longer sounding angry.

A shadow of Zuko’s old glare crossed his face for a split second before he just sighed.

“I know.”

The group lapsed into silence again. Sokka glanced around, noticing Katara biting her lip and looking almost nervous. Then he saw the look on Aang’s face - conflicted and guilty, gaze fixed on Zuko. Sokka was pretty sure he knew what that look meant. Aang was somehow blaming himself for being trapped in an iceberg, and not dead or reincarnated, for a hundred years. The kid was weirdly talented at feeling guilty over things that literally could not be his fault. But Aang didn’t say anything either, silently shifting his gaze to the ground and fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Even Toph seeming unwilling to say anything. For a few moments.

Then: “That’s fucked up, Sparky,”

Zuko gave a small, surprised laugh and Sokka suddenly realised he hadn’t heard Zuko laugh before. That was an oddly uncomfortable thought. Clearly he needed to to step up the jokes.

“I probably should have realised sooner,” Zuko admitted, “He was always pretty consistent in trying to get rid of me.”

A small smile crossed Toph’s face, nothing like her usual broad grin.

“Welcome to the Awful Parents Club, population: us.”

Zuko smiled a little wider, and Sokka almost felt like he was intruding on a personal moment.

“I’ve never been in a club before.”

“Me neither, I guess that’s because we both have awful parents.”

They probably shouldn’t have sounded so cheerful about it, but Sokka was pretty sure this was a bonding moment so the pros outweighed the cons.

“My parents would be pissed I’m in a club,” Toph snickered.

“Yeah, I tried to sneak out with some kids once and my dad locked me in the catacombs under the palace for three days.”

 _Okay, nope_ , Zuko should not be saying that like it was funny.

“Man, fuck parents,” Toph said, “Mine let me have a seeing-eye deer dog for like a month and then they took it away because it was ‘giving me _too much confidence_ ’. The dog was kinda dumb and kept drooling on me, but it was still nice to have a pet for a while, ya know?”

“Yeah,” Zuko said with a sigh, “I had a pet elephant rat once. That... didn’t end well for the elephant rat.”

“Your dad killed it?” Aang cut in, looking horrified.

Both Toph and Zuko seemed to startle, as if they had forgotten anyone else was in the conversation.

“Well...” All of the tension that had disappeared from Zuko’s form returned. “He told Azula to ‘get rid of it’, and, uh, she did. Very, um, thoroughly.”

Aang looked like someone had kicked a puppy in front of him. Or thoroughly barbecued a puppy in front of him.

“Let’s carry on this conversation somewhere else,” Toph decided, laying her palm flat on the ground, “It feels like Twinkletoes is gonna cry, and I have no idea how to deal with that.”

“Have either of you considered therapy?” Sokka asked, only half joking.

Toph scoffed. “Therapy is talking about stuff with a stranger. I met Sparky like three days ago, so he’s basically a stranger. This is therapy.”

And Sokka was not going to argue too hard against a girl who could probably bend his bones if she tried hard enough.

———

Zuko and Toph had taken to each other like a turtleduck to water, and Sokka was equally glad, confused, and horrified. Because Toph had not been joking about bonding over bad parents and every conversation made him want to hug his dad and beat up both of theirs.

“Ever since they realised I was blind, they wouldn’t let me do anything! And whenever I tried to talk to them about it, they just shut me down like I didn’t deserve a say in my own damn life!”

Sokka had discovered that Toph’s parents were called Lao and Poppy Beifong, and took annual trips to a less guarded estate by the sea. After all of this was over, they were going to have a _chat_ \- Lao, Poppy, Sokka, and boomerang.

“When I was born, my father wanted to get rid of me because I didn’t have the firebender spark. The Fire Sages and my mother had to talk him out of throwing me over the palace walls.”

Sokka was going to hug his dad as soon as he got back from foraging with Aang and possibly never let go. And punch Fire Lord Ozai in the face, and grab him by that stupid beard that probably looked even stupider in person than it did on all the Fire Nation posters. Maybe he’d talk Aang into letting him kick the guy a few times before he killed him.

Sokka was lost in daydreams of decking the Fire Lord when everything went to shit.

———

“Someone’s coming,” Toph called, running over to the group gathered around the fire pit, Zuko close behind her.

She pointed past them, through one of the arches.

“Just one person, but I recognise them, I don’t remember where but I know them,”

From the almost nervous look on the earthbender’s face, that didn’t appear to be a good thing. Katara was already on her feet, waterskin close at her side. By the time the sound of footsteps reached him, Sokka already had his boomerang in one hand and sword half unsheathed in the other, and Zuko was drawing swords-  
Hang on, since when had Zuko had swords? The jerk had magic fire powers _and_ swords? Two swords! Completely unfair, and Sokka would fight him later to establish dominance as the group’s sword guy. But then the footsteps stopped, and Sokka looked up and decided that maybe two sword guys would be good right now.

“Well, this is quite the welcome ceremony,” Azula said evenly, eyes flicking across the group with infuriating calmness.

Katara moves first, lashing her water whip out with a cry of rage. Azula dodged it with practiced ease, stepping back only to be hit by a pillar of earth courtesy of Toph. Thanks to the dragons-slash-Sun Warriors, the arc of flame from Zuko was almost blinding as it flashed past Sokka, flickering with more colours than he’d thought possible. And Aang-  
Aang looked frozen, clutching his staff tightly. He had moved into a defensive stance, eyes tracking Azula’s every move, but standing stock still. His face was a mirror of what Sokka had seen in the crystal caverns, shocked and scared as her lightning courses through him. And Sokka was filled with white hot rage.  
Boomerang left his hand a moment later, and Azula let out a small laugh as she easily avoided it. Exactly like Zuko had done at the South Pole, she didn’t seem to process ‘boomerang always comes back’.

But her amusement seemed to be fading, as she weaved through strikes and slashes from fire, water and earth. Then Sokka realised she hadn’t thrown any fire yet. Had she lost it like Zuko had when he arrived? He hoped to the spirits she had.

She was frowning now, and at some point her perfect topknot had loosened, a few strands of hair flying around her face.

“I don’t have time for this,” she hissed, “Stop that, I’m not here to fight.”

This time, Sokka laughed.

“Silence, peasant. I came here to talk to my brother. Do you know what I’m risking just by coming here?”

And suddenly a look almost like vulnerability crossed her face, and Sokka saw Zuko falter out of the corner of his eye. Toph stopped too: “She’s not lying.”

And then boomerang made its return, and the fire princess went down with an audible thud.

“Let’s go!” Katara cried, grabbing Aang by the back of his shirt and gesturing to Appa, “She won’t stay down long.”

“I’ll get the others,” Sokka called over his shoulder, racing to the courtyard he had last seen them in.

Azula being here was bad news, even if she was alone. No doubt hundreds more Fire Nation troops were ready to swarm them the second she gave the order.

The scene in the courtyard was oddly calm, Suki sparring with Haru, knife glinting in afternoon sunlight. The Duke had climbed into Teo’s lap, and was grabbing the wheels, trying to spin the chair in circles. Hakoda looked up sharply from where he was sitting, watching the group, as Sokka approached.

“We have to go!” He yelled, skidding to a stop in front of them, “Azula found us!”

A dark look crossed Suki’s face as she lowered her knife. Sokka grabbed her hand, gesturing for the others to follow.

“I knocked her out with my boomerang, but we have to get out of here before she wakes up,” he got out between attempts to catch his breath, “The others are getting Appa.”

He didn’t catch anything anyone else said as they raced to the bison. Aang dropped down from the saddle, helping Haru up as Toph sent Teo shooting up with a pillar of earth. Hakoda had picked up The Duke at some point, and pulled himself into the saddle with one hand, the other trying to hold the squirming child.

Sokka glanced at Azula’s crumpled form, and felt his heart stutter as she stirred.

“Let’s go!” He called, taking Zuko’s outstretched hand and climbing onto Appa.

“Yip yip!” Aang called from the bison’s head. Sokka had never been so happy to hear Appa’s rumbling roar as his tail started its slow flapping.

And then Azula’s eyes opened, staring at them with a look almost like shock.

“Wait!”

She sounded young. Something verging on panic creeped into her voice.

Then her eyes narrowed as she scrambled to her feet, and she moved into a stance that brought back some of the worst memories Sokka had. Before anyone could react, Zuko was moving, throwing himself down onto the ground and rolling back onto his feet, just as the cracking blue electricity flashed forward. He could feel Appa’s heart through the saddle, pounding hard. Azula was aiming for the bison.

And then Zuko was in front of them, and Sokka felt his heart stop as the lightning made contact with Zuko’s outstretched hand.

Someone screamed, he didn’t know who.

Then Zuko’s other hand shot out, and electricity surged up his arm, shooting out of his fingertips, out over them and into the sky.

Azula looked just as shocked as Sokka felt, standing perfectly still and staring blankly at her brother. Her mouth opened as if to say something, but Sokka had already grabbed Zuko’s hand and pulled him up, ignoring the heat of his skin and the crackle of leftover lightning in it, and Aang was pulling Appa’s reins and they were airborne. Zuko had turned, staring at the rapidly shrinking shape of his sister in the distance. She still hadn’t moved.

And Zuko was alive, not a pile of ash on the floor of the Air Temple, which Sokka was having a hard time processing.

“You redirected lightning,” Sokka said.’You should be dead’ is what he didn’t say, but he was pretty sure the message got across.

“Yeah.” Zuko said faintly, looking slightly dazed. “It can’t be healthy to do that twice in a few days, right?” And then promptly collapsed.

**Author's Note:**

> I post most stuff first on [my tumblr!](https://koiotic.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I'm not turning this into a full fic right now, but everything here is on my 'maybe do this' list - and I have no impulse control, so if you like it, there's a good chance there will be more! (This is one of my favourites, definitely top of the list atm)


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